My ode to the Patriots written for WSJ.com is here.
Ode to the Patriots
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Nice work, Russ. Was it worth the 'free' t-shirt?
Oof, Reggie Wayne, not Wayne Clark?
And one 'd' in Tedy Bruschi. I thought you were a diehard–maybe the WSJ editors are Giants fans? Copygate?
Long time reader and fan of the blog, but it somehow slipped past me that you were a fellow Pats fan. Glad to hear it!
Russ: I would contact the editors at WSJ.com immediately and get them to change "Wayne Clark" to wide receiver "Reggie Wayne" and tight end "Dallas Clark." Make it happen, for your own sake.
Otherwise, I enjoyed the ode. I'm a huge Packers fan, and I will be rooting for the Patriots this Sunday (whether or not I watch the game is another story- I've only been able to watch ESPN again in the last few days). I'd love to see the Pats attain perfection, if only to shut up those annoying Miami Dolphins. I suspect the Pats will have too much class to pop bubbly on the sidelines the next time a team threatens to go undefeated.
I really enjoyed the ESPN the Magazine article about Belichick. He's a no-nonsense guy who doesn't let emotion get in the way of making the right decisions.
I think his success with the Patriots says a lot about his team, as well. I don't know a lot about his career in Cleveland, but I suspect that those Cleveland teams were substantially younger and more immature than these Pats teams. It takes a mature, intelligent team (led by a mature, intelligent QB) to handle Belichick's style of coaching.
I wish the best of luck to the Pats. My team should be there, but you'll have to settle for the Giants.
Excellent ode!
I'm a Pat fan, too. BTW, an economic study I did a couple years ago using an NFL data set I created showed why Belichick is the best coach in football today.
Go Big Blue. The Giants are a working class team and a working class hero is something to be.
Extremely well-written. But, sorry, Brady isn't fit to tie Terry Bradshaw's shoes.
Let’s Go G-Men. If you beat the Packers in sub-zero temps, you can easily beat this team (again, pretty much).
Break Brady’s other ankle.
PS, any team who plays the Miami Dolphins twice a year does not impress anyone.
And let's not forget:
*Caught Cheating
About your reference to Brazil and Argentina in your WSJ piece. I'm from Argentina and old enough to remember all World Cups starting with the one in 1950. You should know that in the late 1940s and 1950s, Argentina's national teams were much better than Brazil's. For political reasons related to Argentina's no-participation in the WWII, Argentina was not appointed as host of the 1950 World Cup (it took place in Brazil and it was won by Uruguay) and Peron rejected the national team to participate in it. Then, in 1954, Peron again rejected the national team to participate in the World Cup organized by Swizertland. I can name you the Argentinian team that in 1950 could have won the World Cup (starting with Alfredo Di Stéfano, the greatest player ever) and a different national team that could have easily won the 1954 World Cup. In the 1940s and 1950s Argentina won 7 of the 11 South American cups. By the end of the 1950s most of the best Argentinian players were playing in Italy and Spain and were "nationalized" to play for their new countries.
Ode? Ode? What ode? I saw no lyrical poem usually marked by exaltation of feeling and style varying lengths of line, and complexity of stanza forms.
Tsk! Tsk!
Besides you'll be ode-less when Eli Manning teams up with Derek Jeter and they shut the Pats down with a hat trick in the third period.
You know, some teams have never been to the Super Bowl.
I'm a Colts fan, and deeply enjoyed watching them beat the Pats last year.
But Roberts has perfectly detailed why I can't hate the Patriots or Tom Brady. There's just damn little flash about this franchise–they just keep pulling in bargain basement guys (Randy Moss excepted, but, hey, I wouldn't have taken him on at this point, so even that looks brilliant), and turning them into a winning team.
Spygate excepted, they exemplify what's best in sports. And personally I'm not so sure stealing signals isn't legitimate. You don't wan the other team to steal your signals? Be more careful and more clever. It's an old tradition in baseball, after all, and football's not supposed to be a pansy sport compared to baseball players.